Dr M ashamed to be Ibrahim Ali's friend

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was ashamed to call Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali his friend.

"I am ashamed. He is my friend but he doesn't want to join Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia because we are friends with DAP," Mahathir said during a press conference at Putrajaya.

While Ibrahim had claimed that DAP was "jahat (evil)", he should compare DAP with MCA to truly see who was more evil, said Mahathir.

Mahathir said DAP has publicly declared that they respect the constitution, the position of the Malay rulers, Islam as the nation's official religion, among others.

He questioned if MCA and MIC had done the same.

On Perkasa's plan to field independent candidates during the next general election, Mahathir said this meant Ibrahim was working for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"He (Ibrahim) works for Najib because he knows that if there's more than one-to-one contest, Najib will win, so he's making it so that Najib will win.

"He pretends to fight for Malays. He cannot work with DAP but he is willing to work with Najib, he is willing to work with someone who steals money," Mahathir said.

He also denied that he was ever a Perkasa patron.

Ibrahim had said on Sunday that Perkasa plans to field 50 independent candidates in the upcoming general election, including himself.

They are contesting as independents, he said, because MPs have to toe the party line while Perkasa's candidates are free to represent their constituents.

When contacted, Ibrahim said he will hold a press conference on this tomorrow.- Mkini